International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) and Local Non-Governmental-Organizations (LNGOs) became crucial in shaping the Local Development in Kayah State, the smallest state in Myanmar. An important activity of NGO work is to apply participation and empowerment tools in their development projects. This research assessed how both Integrated Community Development Project (ICDP)/INGO and Catholic Karuna Loikaw/LNGO took account of using participation and empowerment tools in the development processes. Specifically, the case study was done in the two villages of Kayah State which is situated in the Eastern part of Myanmar. The research analyzed whether participation and empowerment applied by the two NGOs can contribute to the local development by examining the income generation activities of a Self-Reliance-Group of ICDP and a Micro-Credit-Union Group of CKL in these two projects.

Within the state of Tamil Nadu in Southern India, there are presently 42 active leprosy colonies. The decreasing rate of leprosy in India has not been trailed by a decline in leprosy colonies, but rather, an alteration in the demographic composition of the colonies has occurred. Leprous individuals no longer make up the dominant population of a colony with leprosy colonies now consisting largely of non-leprous children and grandchildren of the patients. Consequently, life in a leprosy colony no longer equates to being a carrier of the physical deformities of the disease.

CL offers a viable means to address the access to essential medicine problem. Transnational social movements, in turn, legitimize this method. The CL campaign and the networking of transnational social movement worked in conjunction to present an alternative to pharmaceutical market order. This research evaluates the success of the transnational social movement after Thailand’s issuance of Compulsory Licensing (CL) in Nov 2006. By assessing the characteristics, reasons, and nature of the movement, this work aims to determine its sustainability for future CL movements. Research findings illustrate that the networking of transnational social movements proved necessary, if not crucial, to the success of the Thai CL campaign. This research assesses the success of the transnational social movement and its theoretical implications.

Burma receives a paltry amount of foreign assistance. This is because donors rescinded aid and devised new policies strictly limiting cooperation with the Burmese government in response to the military’s ruthless crackdown on protests in August 1988 and the junta’s subsequent failure to establish democracy. The little assistance that remains is primarily humanitarian. This paper begins with the premise that carefully considered, attentively applied, closely monitored aid can be effective in eventually bringing about governance reforms in Burma

Between February 2005 and September 2006, Nepal incurred the most eventful bout of political happenings in the country’s recent history. The totalitarian takeover by King Gyanendra resulted in a mass people's movement numbering in the millions along with the emergence of the Communist Party Nepal-Maoists from a ten-year underground existence. This paper uses Classical Marxist Theory to show the plausibility of a Maoist-affiliated party participating in mainstream politics.

Workers around the globe seem to share the same constant up-hill struggle for dignity, justice, fairness and a decent way of life. Trade unions have been and continue to be the pivotal institution for working class people to advance their struggle for themselves, their families, and their communities. The past few decades have borne witness to ever-greater challenges to workers and their unions by those who believe they benefit from limiting the power and effectiveness of unions. Consequently, unions all over the world, including in America and Thailand, have faced setbacks in recent decades.

This dissertation focuses on the issue of media representations of reality, and analyzes the case of violence in Southern Thailand as an example of the manner in which the American media may be misrepresenting reality in its portrayal of global political events. The critical and other empirical reference sources used have been referenced and analyzed to create a theoretical framework within which to understand the media's response to the insurgency in Thailand. The study presents an overview of media effects and other theories to form the analytical framework, with special focus on theories referring to the anthoritarian, the libertarian, and the social construction of reality.

The increasing frequency of disaster risks due to natural hazards such as typhoons that hit the Philippines over the past years has become a major concern of disaster risk reduction (DRR) managers especially in the Province of Albay which is considered as the typhoon highway of the country. Local and national legislations have begun to address this issue by means of capacitating the local government units (LGUs) to reduce disaster risks and building the resilience of communities in Albay.

In 2006, the Myitsone Dam was proposed to be built at the confluence of Mali Hka and Nmai Hka Rivers in Kachin State by the Burmese government and a Chinese company. Whilst 90% of electricity would go to China, millions of people who depend on the Ayeyarwady River in Burma would be affected due to environmental and social impacts. The initial construction, which started in 2009, produced immediate impacts such as forced resettlement, loss of livelihoods, properties, and lands, loss Of fish species, and deforestation. Hence, local affected people opposed the project and a social movement grew that eventually included media, non-state actors and political parties. On 30th September 2011, President Thein Sein officially suspended the construction of Myitsone Dam in his presidential term until 2015.

This research explores the reasons why the State Party faces challenges in respecting and protecting the rights of child soldiers in Myanmar. It also identifies the root causes of underage recruitment and its violation of child rights, and emphasizes the actions duty bearers should take to protect children's rights. Finally, it analyzes the challenges of implementing disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programs to provide economic and social services for child soldiers. The methodology of research is a qualitative approach of key informants and in-depth interviews with a concerned range of key stakeholders and child soldiers with review and research based on available secondary data.

This thesis examined how Chonburi Football Club (CFC) is able to ignite forms of localism to emerge. As part of the objectives, it explored the means in which forms of association to the Club create, shape, and reinforce identities of supporters, whom may not be specifically from or tied to the geographic space of Chonburi. As it is in everyday life that football culture is primarily perpetuated, expressed and experienced, this thesis presents a qualitative view on how contemporary identities are created through the powerful vehicle of sport and outlines the implications it has as a social phenomena. Qualitative approaches were used to gather data from semi-structured ethnographic interviews and content analysis was applied further understand the means in which a sense of localism is created.

Results from the thesis suggests that there is a three-way relationship between the `individual, province, and club' in which enables interactions to occur in aspects of social, cultural, economical and political dimensions. Through the activity of football, it has enabled up to six to seven thousand individuals from various backgrounds to gather on a weekly basis, creating and heightening a sense of pride like never before. If viewed as a social system, the Football Club, Provincial Administration Organization and the Chalarm Chon Community are agents, relying on one another to maintain and reproduce the structure of the community.

Research findings suggest that membership and identification with CFC has served as a fountain, providing a source of 'we-feelings' and a solid sense of belonging in both the private and public spheres. In short, the following conclusions to be made: 1.Football serves a socio-emotional function; 2. Football and football-related activities encourage a process of socialization to take place. It is a tool in the transmission of beliefs and norms; 3. Through the use of football, it has served as an integrative function in aiding the integration of individuals, groups and communities together and heightening a sense of unity, pride and belonging; 4. Football has served political function(s) for those in power as the fan clubs provide as political bases for those in power; 5. And lastly, it has served other non-sport purposes such as facilitating community projects through the networks of fan clubs.

Contact MAIDS-Chula for more information and full thesis at maidschula@gmail.com

Land tenure has recently emerged as one of the most controversial political issues in Cambodia. This is due to the rampant wave of Economic Land Concessions (ELC) granted by the government that has accelerated in recent years. This paper examines the process of change in land tenure in Cambodia through a case study of the ELC granted to the Koh Kong Sugar Co., Ltd. to cultivate sugar cane in Srae Ambel district, Koh Kong province, and how it continues to affect 220 families who seek justice and compensation for nearly 1,500 hectares of land they no longer have access to that they had previously depended on for their livelihoods.

The study uses the conceptual framework of the powers of exclusion to analyze the process of change in land tenure that took place, namely the powers of the market, regulation, force, and legitimation. Ethnographic interviews of people affected by the change in land tenure were conducted to collect data from which to measure the different powers at play.

The research determined that the powers of exclusion played an important role in the process of the change in land tenure and that these powers are deeply intertwined. Moreover, the research found that depending on the scale at which the process is examined, one power may be more predominant than the others. The study also discovered that access to information plays a critical role in the process of change in land tenure and that it can also influence exclusion from land just as the other powers.

In the case study Cambodia's tumultuous history, weak rule of law and the lure to profit in a large-scale agro-industrial scheme converge to drive the change in land tenure. Despite this, counter-veiling powers were applied by NGOs and the community to challenge exclusion from land through the court in Cambodia, Thailand's National Human Rights Committee, and other international accountability mechanisms.

Contact MAIDS-Chula for more information and full thesis at maidschula@gmail.com

This study focuses on the role of the Royal Thai Army (RTA) in disaster relief operations during the flood 2011 in Bangkok. This is aimed to understand the fundamental harriers faced by the RTA in interfacing with government agencies in disaster relief operations. It also analyzes the weaknesses of the existing interfacing mechanism as well as determines the possible ways in minimizing the fundamental barriers for the interfacing process with government agencies.

The study uses qualitative approach for the case-study, utilizing content analysis of written materials and key informant interviews in the form of semi-conducted style on the RTA units and key government agencies who were involved in the disaster relief operation during the Thailand Flood in 2011 in Bangkok. This study uses the Coordination Model, developed by the National Institute of Justice, the United Stated Department of Justice, to analyze the qualitative data from the interviews.

This study revealed that the difficulties for the RTA can be categorized at two levels, policy level and operation level. There is also some gap between these levels during the disaster relief operations in the flood 2011 in Bangkok, which helps to understand the difference in the thoughts and concerns of the personnel of both levels. However, one major common difficulty for both levels is the unawareness and unpreparedness for this prolonged flooding. The relief operations were done at hand with very limited knowledge and experiences, creating complexity in management of assistances. The vital concern at the policy level is the legal and structural aspect of barrier. The role of the military in disaster relief is stated to be the supporting one, which means that the RTA must only operate upon the requests of other agencies in disaster relief. At the operation level, it is found that the vital concern is the relief equipment as the existing equipment is not designed for relief operations in such prolonged flood situation. From this study, it is reflected that the collective awareness and preparedness for natural disasters are not thoroughly promoted nor productively utilized for national plan.

Contact MAIDS-Chula for more information and full thesis at maidschula@gmail.com

In recent times, Multinational Corporations (MNCs) have become very powerful and have great influence to affect the socio-economic condition of the countries hosting their subsidiary companies. This paper introduces Toyota Motor Thailand (TMT) as a case study to answer the questions which have been debated on the topics of MNCs and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in developing countries. These questions include: (1.) Whether CSR can help as a tool to elevate the standards and regulate MNCs in places where the government institutions are weak. (2.) Whether the globalization necessarily leads to irresponsibility. (3.) Whether the management of CSR in global firms is conducted in a way that aligns and converges with local practices into global forces, or the CSR policy is diverged to be more responsive to local institutional factors.

Using a qualitative research methodology, the study focuses on the TMT's environmental CSR policy that includes production externalities control, stakeholder management, and the firm's contributions to Thai society. The cross comparison technique has been adopted along with the institutional framework of CSR by Dirk Matten and Jeremy Moon. This institutional framework has been used to analyze the globalization process of convergence & divergence in TMT's CSR policy formation and implementation. The result shows that CSR policy formulation and implementation at TMT is considered a hybrid process with inclination towards global integration. Though the influence of institutional factors in Thailand remains significant, it appears limited when compared to the power of global influences and Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC)’s policy. The study also shows that convergence force induced by TMC led to improvements in corporate responsible practices.

Contact MAIDS-Chula for more information and full thesis at maidschula@gmail.com

Urban refugees now make up almost half of the world's total refugee population. Formal education for the children of refugee and asylum-seeker families might often be delayed due to their situation. Barriers can arise in any country but in Thailand barriers to accessing education also include the threat of arrest and detention. The purpose of this study is to determine the key factors that limit access to education for the children of urban asylum-seekers and refugees in Bangkok. The primary findings of the study are: (i) The majority of the school aged refugees and asylum-seekers studied do have access to education; but more than half receive education far below national standards. This can only be considered informal rather than formal schooling that would be recognized as fulfilling basic education requirements. (ii) The threat of arrest and detention resulting from illegal status does disrupt access to education creating a gap in consistency, but does not completely restrict access in the long term. (iii) The current strategy to enroll urban refugee and asylum-seeker children in Thai public schools appears to be the best option given the challenges of the situation, although language barriers are encountered which causes a further gap in education. The resulting gaps combined cause substantial disruption in the education of these children.

Contact MAIDS-Chula for more information and full thesis at maidschula@gmail.com

The ongoing human rights abuses and widespread famine are the primary root causes that trigger Chin people to scatter throughout different places such as India, Malaysia and Thailand at the present time. Among these countries, India hosts the largest Chin population since the 1988 student uprising in Burma. Currently, an estimated number of 130,000, which is almost 20 percent of the total population in Chin State, Burma, are stranded in the most parts of Mizoram State and New Delhi, India.

Unfortunately, the Chins fleeing from a military regime to the world's most populous democratic country still face several human rights violations, sometimes even more than they did in Burma. Besides absenting to ratify the UN 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocols, India has twisted its treatment of the Chin refugees to the worse with no provision of legal protection by condemning several human rights treaties such as ICCPR (International Convention for Civil and Political Rights), CAT (Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and Social and Cultural Rights (SCR) that the country has acceded. Additionally, Chin people are no longer considered as either refugees or asylum-seekers by the Indian government onwards 1995 and their rights are subsequently violated. Consequently, the influx of Chin especially to Mizoram State, the 23rd state of India, is astoundingly regarded as a scapegoat for creating domestic instability.

Therefore, this research basically unveils how the implementation of Look East Policy (LEP) and domestic socio-economic problems in India profoundly impact on India's treatment of the Chins within its territory and related consequences on three realms such as livelihood, physical security and education.

Contact MAIDS-Chula for more information and full thesis at maidschula@gmail.com

This research intends to find out the employment situation of people with disabilities in Jakarta, the objectives of the research are to describe policy implementation on employment for people with disabilities (PWD), to assess the opportunity and condition of the employment for PWDs, to find out the problems faced by PWDs, and the participation and the benefits of the policy to PWDs in Jakarta. It was designed to focus only on a specific target group of PWD in the Wisma Cheshire Foundation in Jakarta. This research uses qualitative method to gather information from key informants with semi-structure and in-depth interview. Focus group discussion was applied with a number of people with physical disabilities in Wisma Cheshire Foundation. The findings reveal that the employment policy for PWDs does not yield expected results. PWDs only have benefited a little from the policy rhetoric. This is basically the problem of implementation. There are a number of reasons as including, lack of confidence in PWDs and prejudices in community, limited public accessibility i.e. infrastructure. The study finds that the logic behind the overall the implementation shortfall is that the approach to disability policy is more on charity rather than rights based approach. It is also recognized that the lack of participation and involving of PWDs in planning and implementing of the employment policies has led to ineffectiveness.

Contact MAIDS-Chula for more information and full thesis at maidschula@gmail.com

Rising electricity demand in Thailand is a key driving force for building new power projects in Thailand, as well as importing electricity from neighboring countries. One of the proposed prOjects in Thailand's 2010-2030 Power Development Plan is the Hat Gyi Dam, which is located on the mainstream Salween River near the Thailand-Myanmar border in Karen State, Myanmar.The Salween River is approximately 2,400 km long and is regarded as the longest free-flowing international river in Southeast Asia, originating on the Tibetan Plateau and flowing through China, Thailand and Myanmar. The Hat Gyi Dam project is a joint venture cooperation between EGAT International (EGATi), Sinohydro Corporation, the Department of Hydroelectric Power Plan (DHPP) of Myanmar government, and a local Myanmar private investor named International Group of Entrepreneur Company.

As EGATi is a major shareholder, this thesis seeks to assess how EGATi has implemented its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy during planning of the project to date. The thesis main research question is "Has EGATi implemented its Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Governance policies for communities in Thailand in preparing the proposed Hat Gyi Dam project on the Salween River, Karen State, Myanmar"?

Qualitative research methods have been applied in this study through a combination of in-depth interviews with villagers, semi-structured interviews with key informants and secondary database research. The research sites are the potentially affected communities living along the Salween River on the Thai side, namely Ban Mae Sam Laep, Ban Tha Ta Fang, and Ban Sob Moei, Mae Hong Son Province.

EGATi CSR policy has three key components: Public Participation and Information Disclosure; Social Responsibility; and Environmental Responsibility, Regarding "Public Participation and Information Disclosure", the findings reveal that EGATi has not disclosed complete project information in a timely, accurate, sufficient and transparent manner; for example, the project's Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report for the Myanmar side, completed in 2008, has not been made available to the public. Also, EGATi has yet to form a Tripartite Committee and has only weakly encouraged the communities and wider public to participate in its activities. Regarding "Social Responsibility," EGATi has failed to build mutual understanding and trust with the communities. Regarding "Environmental Responsibility", whilst EGAT has conducted an EIA report, it does not cover the scope of the entire potentially impacted areas in Myanmar and Thailand. Thai civil society have called on EGATi to conduct a new EIA which covers the entire scope of affected area, although a government subcommittee subsequently required EGATi to only undertake an Environmental Assessment that is not equivalent to Thailand's full-EIA legal standards. This legal ambiguity allows EGATi to claim that it has followed its CSR policy on Environmental Responsibility.

Whilst EGATi's CSR is ultimately voluntary, this thesis argues that EGATi has not followed its CSR policy in the case of the Hat Gyi Dam for a number of reasons, including because of the ambiguous laws for the trans-boundary project and its failure to gain the trust and cooperation of the local communities. In turn, communities oppose the Hat Gyi dam due to the value that the communities place on their livelihood and environment, their concerns with regard to their legal status as non-Thai citizens, the influential role of NGOs in the communities, and the strong belief of the co unities that the Myanmar government supports the dam so as to clear ethnic groups from the area.

Contact MAIDS-Chula for more information and full thesis at maidschula@gmail.com

The main objective of the research is to study how the best interests of the child are considered in the employment of children in order to ensure the development of children who have to work. This study focused only on restaurants and teashops in the urban informal economic sector in which more child labor are found openly. Qualitative methodology is used, including in-depth and semi-structured interviews with child laborers and parents, employers, the concerned civil society organizations and government agencies. The type of work is not hazardous but the conditions of their work are still exploitative. The government has not a clear policy on and the concern for child labor protection and welfare; and the existing laws for child protection are not enforced effectively. Based on the perception of the children, their parents, and employers, the study finds that the best interest of child labor in teashops and restaurants is for them to have education and work. An alternative is seen in the provision of vocational trainings which non-government organizations can be a driving force, or initiating a model of apprenticeship. However, the challenges are the limited capability of NGOs, the less interest of employers and weak coordination from government agencies.

Contact MAIDS-Chula for more information and full thesis at maidschula@gmail.com

This study aims to examine the possibility of judicial recognition community rights concepts. First, the study examines the concept of community rights as recognized under international human rights law and constitution of Thailand. Second, the study attempts to examine conditions of recognition community rights perspectives and the way of life of the affected communities and their experience of getting legal recognition of their rights.

The concept of community rights is recognized under the 1997 and 2007 Constitution of Thailand. It has also been recognized by the international human rights legal framework. However the laws in Thailand still do not recognize community rights. In this scenario, the judges have played an important role while adjudicating cases before them that pertains to community rights.

In this context, the research aims to study the case of Ban Mae Om Ki where two villagers were arrested under the charge of 'encroachment over forest land' while they were preparing the land for swidden farming or shifting cultivation. Although only two individuals were arrested, the arrest was significant for the entire community. The exercise of self-management of natural resources by the community, though guaranteed under international human rights law and the constitution, is unacceptable at the level of law enforcement. The officers of the forest department, the police and the prosecutors do not recognize this system of management and apply the law on forests on all people and arrest them for violating the law. However, co-operation of civil society networks and legal assistance helps the arrested persons to present evidence before the court that explains swidden farming and supports the concept of community rights. In this way, new judicial principles are formulated. This is a one case of human development as explained under the framework of Human Right-Based Approach to Development (RBA). The process of empowering the villager and cooperation inside community network helps in recognition of human rights. It shows how litigation and judiciary can help in shifting paradigm shifting of the state in order to protect the rights of citizens. For the purpose of balancing the state power influence by law which is violated people rights under Critical legal study (CLS) concept.

Contact MAIDS-Chula for more information and full thesis at maidschula@gmail.com